Ultrabook Prototype Combines Touch and Eye-Tracking Technology

Share

Ultrabook Prototype Combines Touch and Eye-Tracking Technology

Image: Courtesy Synaptics

The latest wave of Windows 8 ultrabooks blend keyboards, mice, and touchscreen gestures into a (theoretically) seamless experience. But even with touch as an input option, accessibility remains an issue for people with limited mobility, or those who suffer from long-term repetitive stress injuries.

A prototype ultrabook from Tobii and Synaptics shows what the solution to those problems looks like: a notebook that uses a built-in eye-tracking system to register input, as well as a pressure-sensitive touchpad that can register gestures more precisely and in three dimensions.

I've personally checked out Tobii's eye-tracking technology at CES the past few years. It's evolved from something experimental and somewhat gimmicky into a useful and intuitive tool. I tried out the developer edition of Tobii's eye-tracker on a Windows 8 machine at this year's CES. The experience showed me how handy eye-based input can be – I quickly jumped through onscreen tasks like selecting e-mails to open from a list or browsing through an array of photos onscreen. People with little or no use of their own arms and hands can, with practice, use only their eyes to navigate through any number of digital experiences.

For those with some or full use of their hands, the pressure-sensitive touchpad opens up new input possibilities, too. It can sense how hard you're pressing, and input can be measured in not just two dimensions (x and y), but three (x and y and z). The applications to take advantage of this will likely need to be more customized than the eye-tracking tech, which can be adapted to work like a mouse or other pointer.

A lot of hype has centered around voice dictation technology (Dragon Dictate is often a solution for those that currently suffer from wrist or hand ailments), but in an office setting or situation with a lot of noise, dictation is less optimal. You can use your eyes, or a touchpad, just about anywhere.

You can expect devices like the Tobii-Synaptics prototype to start hitting store shelves sometime next year.